Yet another joke is hidden in the identity of the barkeeper. Given [[Beret Guy]]’s strange behavior, “two whiskey sours, straight down” could be interpreted in a range of ways. This, however, is left to the reader’s overactive imagination.

Yet another joke is hidden in the identity of the barkeeper. Given [[Beret Guy]]’s strange behavior, “two whiskey sours, straight down” could be interpreted in a range of ways. This, however, is left to the reader’s overactive imagination.

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The title text is of course a very old joke "I 'ardly know her!", using this at the wrong moment it could be bad for a nice romance.

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The title text is of course a very old joke "I 'ardly know 'er!", using this at the wrong moment it could be bad for a nice romance.

Revision as of 05:02, 24 November 2013

Explanation

This comic refers to the first start up of CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC). There was a theoretical concern that that the LHC experiments could create a black hole which would suck in our planet.

Cueball uses this concern when telling Megan this could be their last night on Earth, but since the scene is in a bar it is more likely that he just wants to stay the next night together with her. Megan answers as a physicist and expresses scientists have determined that the fears are unfounded.

Cueball feels rejected by her answer and leaves her, but she calls him back and he continues the conversation by using three of the six Quark flavors in his first sentence (Up quark, Charm quark, and Strange quark). Megan is impressed and asks if she has to be on top or bottom (Top quark and Bottom quark). Then, while Cueball explains that he hasn't even bought her a drink, Megan does the order, just straight down (Down quark).

The quarks are some fundamental particles the LHC is generating. All six flavors of quarks are in the last panel: Up, Charm, Strange, Top, Bottom, and Down.

Yet another joke is hidden in the identity of the barkeeper. Given Beret Guy’s strange behavior, “two whiskey sours, straight down” could be interpreted in a range of ways. This, however, is left to the reader’s overactive imagination.

The title text is of course a very old joke "I 'ardly know 'er!", using this at the wrong moment it could be bad for a nice romance.

Transcript

[A bar.]

Cueball: So, the LHC's turning on. This could be our last night on earth.

Megan: Gimme a break. They're not even colliding yet, and it won't do anything cosmic rays haven't.

Discussion

All six flavors of quark are mentioned in the last panel 140.247.0.14 22:30, 16 December 2012 (UTC)AMP

I thought that I got this one, turns out I didn't have a clue. 184.66.160.91 00:27, 19 September 2013 (UTC)

I suspect the title text is a reference to the Futurama episode That's Lobstertainment!, in which Humorbot 5.0 tells a similar supercollider joke. Pelosujamo (talk) 17:45, 18 March 2014 (UTC)

This doesn't explain the comic itself, but this could belong to a trivia section. Let me know if you do need help on this. --Dgbrt (talk) 00:35, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

The title "Turn-On" also seems to be a pun. Turning on the LHC (as mentioned in the first panel) and Megan getting turned on by the mentioning of the quark flavors --108.162.254.98 14:05, 20 July 2014 (UTC)

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